RE: Society Garlic

Hi Tim,

T. violescens is an extremely commonly planted perennial here in California
(a favorite of strip malls and downtown areas), so the common name Society
Garlic is well known here. Perhaps the term comes from it having a more
"refeened" look for the landscape? It certainly doesn't make a good
boutonniere for the social man-about-town!

Cheryl
Santa Clara, CA (where the acacias and early flowering fruit trees are doing
their thing now)

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-medit-plants@ucdavis.edu
[o*@ucdavis.edu]On Behalf Of Tim Longville
Sent: Monday, February 25, 2002 1:14 AM
To: medit-plants
Subject: Mairzy Doats...


Makes a nice change from Allium triquetrum, anyway...

Thanks for the fascinating info (and exact words) for my dimly remembered
song's origins. What a scholarly lot you all are...! So now I have to revise
my fantasy scenario and instead of GIs bewildered by Brits have to imagine
Brits (including the infant Longville) bewildered by GIs...

Dotty words and names reminds me to pick up on Moira's mention of Society
Garlic. I've often wondered but never asked anyone: why is it so-called? Was
the smell supposed to be more 'refeened' than that of 'real' garlic? (Are
the bulbs ever actually used as a culinary substitute for garlic? Have they
ever been?) Actually, secondary question: does anyone ever 'really' use the
so-called common name? 'Spontaneously,' I mean, rather than quoting it from
the authority of a book? I rather suspect not - that it's one of those
mythical 'common names' which either died out ages ago in actual usage or
were never in actual usage anyway but made up by some long-gone writer of
gardening books (folks who have a lot of sins, of various kinds, to answer
for...).

Tim
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